Articuno's Ice Palace
by Dannichu
Summary: Only with the strongest bonds of trust can a small group of Pokémon journey from The Ice Path in Johto to the Seafoam Islands to save their friend's life.
1. The Melted Pokémon

No, your eyes do not deceive you; I am actually redoing Articuno's Ice Palace, my first Pokémon fanfic ever.

I was about ten or eleven when I wrote this originally, and, being fifteen now, my writing style has greatly improved, and some stuff I wrote into the original I now find just plain embarrassing. However, many things I can't change, as they are vital to the plot and so on.

Please note that this was written before the R/S Pokémon were even out in Japan (which explains the total lack of Regice), not to mention way before the Lair of Insanity crew were dreamed up. Despite this, I have cunningly managed to weave in a great number of characters with who you might be familiar…

Lastly; this fanfic contains a few fake Pokémon. I know that quite a few people are turned off by fakes, but they are vital to the plot, so I can't take them out. Besides, I love Freezachu to bits :)

This WHOLE fic is dedicated to the Original Mew's Hangout Gang; Mewkitty, Dragonfree, Sarah the Swinub, Eevzy, Aliena, Vaporeanna, Eevee Oak, Ricky, Zizzo, Ice C80, Latias' Sister, Rob and everyone. I love you all! Thanks particularly to Mewkitty for letting me borrow Freezachu and Stalegeon, and Dragonfree for encouraging me to actually rewrite this.

Thanks also go out to my little sister for being the annoyance of my life as well as the inspiration for Gabzy's personality. And I love you for it :)

Disclaimer: If I owned Pokémon, I would not be sitting here, clutching my head, rocking back and forth in my chair and mumbling "...want Gale of Darknes... want it now..." because it's not out over here yet.

**Articuno's Ice Palace**  
By Dannichu 

**Chapter 1: The Melted Pokémon (Clear)**

The laughter of four Pokémon rang out through out the icy chambers deep within Johto's Ice Path. These caverns were completely undiscovered by humans, and the coldest place in the entirety of Johto; colder even than the darkest depths of Mount Mortar, or deep within the unfathomable Whirl Islands. The Path was illuminated only by small gaps in the roof that let in little to no heat at all, causing everything to be frozen save for a glacial river that ran around the back of the Path, providing the Path's inhabitants with water. Despite the fact it was freezing cold, they were accustomed to the extreme temperatures.

As the caverns at the back had been undiscovered by humans, there were a few species of Pokémon that lived there and had never been seen by humans, and therefore were not even recognized and classified as Pokémon. One such Pokémon species was a Glacéguin, an Ice/Flying Pokémon who resembled a penguin, save for their minty green and sky blue feathers; blue on their backs and green on their faces and bellies.

Another such undiscovered type was Freezachu, who were in actual fact, mutations of Pikachu. They resembled Pikachu in terms of shape and size, but they had a light frosty blue fur with darker blue cheeks and two vertical stripes running up their backs and onto their foreheads. Their tails ended with a number of icicles and they had blue spheres on the tips of their ears.

These undiscovered Pokémon scarcely ventured outside, for fear that humans would find and capture them for their rarity, but trips outside had to be made for food.

The outside temperature was roughly nineteen degrees centigrade, a relatively warm summer morning. Inside, however, the temperature was closer to minus twenty. Four Pokémon were playing in one of the large undiscovered caverns, laughing and running around, doing their best to not create enough noise to attract humans or annoy other, older Pokémon.

The oldest of the group was Ritzo, an outgoing Delibird who knew every cavern in the Ice Path perfectly. He spent all of his time with his friends, and loved playing with them. He had taken to staying with his friends all the time ever since his father Topi had been captured a few years ago, along with a few other Pokémon from the path when it was raided by humans.

Next was Sarielle, a Glacéguin who was rarely out of her large family's vision, as they, like the rest of the Glacéguin species, were paranoid about being discovered and captured. She, on the other hand, hated having to fly and hide upon hearing any unknown noise.

Gabzy was a Sneasel and, though he loved his friends, liked to be left alone. He was quite often stressed and he hated meeting anyone with which he was unfamiliar. He was extremely sneaky and was typically the one who ventured outside and into the open to collect berries and other food for his friends.

Sarol was a Swinub who had never been outside in her life. Even though she wasn't one of the undiscovered Pokémon, she had a very good reason to avoid humans, as they would almost certainly capture her due to her different coloring. She was an outcast from the other Swinub, who disliked having a Pokémon that would attract the unwanted attention of humans in their midst. Her grayish-silvery fur and almost fluorescent pink nose was such a dead giveaway that, according to her fellow Swinub, she may as well have a sign above her head reading "Capture me". So she spent virtually all of her time with her three other friends, and they spent most of their time playing in the icy grottos.

On this particular day, they had been forced out of the cave in which they usually played by a group of Jynx who decided that they wanted to move into the neighboring caverns and disliked the sound of screams of laughter disturbing them. So the four friends grudgingly took their games into one of the 'back caves' as they were called, which were typically reserved and inhabited only by the undiscovered Pokémon. However, they were lucky enough to find one such cave that was totally empty, and had more than enough space to run around and fly about without any danger of low-hanging stalactites or loose boulders in the ceiling.

"Okay Ritzo, it's your turn!" said Sarielle happily, a large smile running from one end of her beak to the other. Her Delibird friend grinned. "I'll show you how it's done." He shot back. Gabzy was already dashing away, with all the grace and elegance of a cat, while Sarol was trying to run, but not making much progress on her little Swinub legs.

"It's not fair!" Sarol shouted to the Sneasel, "You have an unfair advantage!"

Gabzy gave only a slight glance over his shoulder to indicate that he heard her while continuing running, while Ritzo flew after him, trying to catch up.

Suddenly, the game was interrupted by a shrill scream, which reverberated off the nearby rocks for a few seconds afterwards and caused some of the large stalactites hanging from the icy ceiling to shudder hazardously. All four of the Pokémon stopped dead in their tracks, looking around for a source of the noise.

"What on earth was that?" asked Gabzy, looking around.

"Someone screamed…" said Sarol, her voice full of worry.

Ritzo and Sarielle flew up to the roof of the cave and looked around for an apparent source. Suddenly a second noise, a loud wail, filled their ears. Then a scared voice echoed through the cave. "Help!".

The Pokémon all looked at one another before nodding and running off to find the source of the voice.

Sarielle and Ritzo flew, Gabzy ran and Sarol scuttled around large stalagmites, snowy boulders, and huge sheets of slippery ice until they found themselves at the entrance to a tiny cave at the far back of the Path. There was nothing exceptionally noticeable about it, save for its small size and the puddle of water that it contained, as there was virtually no water in the Ice Path, especially at the back, as it typically froze over immediately due to the glacial temperatures. There was also a beam of light filtering in through a large hole in the ceiling. Also inside was a small Pokémon that bore a vague resemblance to a mouse. Its icy coat reflected the intense sunlight, causing the soft fur to shimmer beautifully. It was, beyond any doubt, a Freezachu. It was standing by the puddle, huddled over and making weeping noises.

"No…" he sobbed, obviously unaware of the presence of the four Pokémon. Sarielle looked at her friends before walking over to the Ice Pikachu and putting a blue wing around its shoulder. The Freezachu jumped a little, startled, but turned around to look at them, tears streaming down his face.

"What is it?" Sarol asked, her voice full of worry.

"I… a Pokémon… fire… Stalegeon!" was all the discernable speech that came forth from the Freezachu's mouth, amid numerous sobs and wails.

"It's okay…" Sarielle said patiently, never moving her wing from the little Pokémon's shoulder.

Gabzy looked a tad uncomfortable, torn between wanting to mock the Freezachu for being so wimpy, but not wanting to earn glares from his friends. Instead, he muttered under his breath, something he always did when angry. "Sheesh, don't let the humans know we're here or anything…" he murmured

He had failed to take into account the acute sense of hearing trademark to the Freezachu species, and the blue mouse, upon hearing his remark, sobbed even harder. "Two humans…" Freezachu stuttered, his tears freezing onto his face as they slid down his cheeks, "Battling P-Pokémon… up there. One was a… Fire one… the fire b-blasted though here…" he trailed off, unable to continue.

"And what?" Ritzo asked, perched on an icy boulder and looking concerned. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling. It was fairly obvious that the hole had been melted.

"It's my… my friend…" he sobbed, distraught.

Gabzy's eyes narrowed. "What is?"

Freezachu used a shaking paw to point at the puddle on the floor, which was shimmering an eerie blue. The light coming down from the hole in the ceiling was falling directly onto it, making it glisten.

"Right…" Gabzy said, an eyebrow raised, "The puddle is your friend."

He earned a nearly venomous glare from Sarielle, who turned around to face him, before going back to Freezachu, who was crying harder than ever.

"What is it, exactly?" Ritzo asked, concerned.

Freezachu hiccoughed a few times, before taking a deep breath. "W-when the fire came in.. it hit Stalegeon and… and m-melted her!" he nearly howled the last few words, looking beyond consolation.

"Stalegeon?" Sarol repeated, looking at Ritzo and Sarielle for help.

"A Stalegeon, I think, is an Ice Evolution of Eevee. I've never seen one. My sisters talked about them once," said Sarielle, casting her mind back, "That's about all I know. You don't have any idea, do you Ritz?"

"I heard they can't live in any form of heat without melting." Ritzo explained, "Correct me if I'm wrong..."

"N-no, that's right…" Freezachu sobbed, "A-and if they melt… y-you need to re-freeze them before the water goes black or else they… they _die_!" again, the little Pokémon screeched the end of his sentence, causing a few stalagmites on the ceiling to quiver forebodingly.

"Well…" Sarol said, hoping to sound comforting, "we could all try and re-freeze her. I mean, if all five of us try at once, we should be able to make him better, yes?"

"Her." Freezachu choked. "W-would you help me? Please?"

The four Pokémon nodded, and all five Pokémon walked over to the puddle and formed a circle around it. They each took a deep intake of breath, before firing an Ice Attack on the puddle, which engulfed it in a bright ice-white light for a few seconds, before the attacks and light faded away, revealing that the puddle had remained so. Freezachu burst into inconsolable tears. "It's no good!" he sobbed, "She's going to _die_!"

The four other Pokémon glanced over at Freezachu, who had dropped to his knees and was crying his heart out. They all sighed.

"What can we do?" Sarol asked, looking hopeless.

"Nothing." said Gabzy.

Ritzo sighed again, "He's right. If all of us can't revive Stalegeon, I doubt anybody can."

Sarielle looked sadly over at the Ice Pikachu, and then back to her friends, looking forlorn. Suddenly, something flickered in her eyes, something that Sarol, Gabzy and Daigree all knew as an idea. Her dejected countenance suddenly transformed into a hopeful grin, the longer she thought about her idea.

"What is it?" Sarol and Ritzo asked at the same time.

"Well…" she whispered, so Freezachu wouldn't hear, and she wouldn't get his hopes up. "What if we got Articuno, the Titan of Ice, to try and-"

"Articuno?" Gabzy repeated incredulously. "Isn't he a tad… far away? I mean, the Seafoam Islands aren't exactly a trip down the road, are they?"

Upon hearing Gabzy's outburst, Freezachu had turned around a listened. "A-Articuno?" he sniffed, wiping his eyes. "Do you think he could maybe re-freeze Stalegeon?"

The Pokémon all looked at each other, Sarol throwing a rather nasty look at Gabzy.

"Well, it's a possibility…" Ritzo said, unsure of what to say, and not wanting to get Freezachu's hopes up.

"I'm going." said Freezachu abruptly. It made everyone else jump slightly, as it was not only the first thing Freezachu had said without stuttering, he had said it as a statement, not a "what if", and, most of all, what he had actually said.

"Are you kidding?" Gabzy asked, "You seriously have to be joking. The Seafoam Islands are in _Kanto_. We're stuck here in the Ice Path in _Johto_."

"I don't care," said Freezachu, apparently not hearing a word the Sneasel had said. "If there's a possibility he could revive Stalegeon, I'm going."

"But he might not be able to! It's a _tiny_ chance…" Ritzo reasoned.

Freezachu shook his head, "There's still a possibility. I'm w-willing to risk it."

"But you don't know the way!" Sarol reasoned, "You could easily get lost! And you're a Freezachu! You wouldn't last five minutes without being captured by some collector!"

"I don't care!" Freezachu shouted.

Gabzy shook his head in disbelief. "You can't be serious!"

"Yeah?" the tiny blue mouse challenged, "Well, I am!"

Sarielle had gone the entire conversation-stroke-argument looking from one Pokémon to another. At that moment, everyone was breathing heavily to regain their breath. Sarielle took three steps over to Freezachu and put a wing around his shoulder. "You friend means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

"Of course!" Freezachu shouted, sounding insulted, before realizing that she wasn't arguing with him. "I mean, yes, she is. She's like my sister. She's my best friend in the world." he paused, thinking about what he had just said, "She's my only friend in the world. I'd do anything for her. That's why I _have_ to go."

Sarielle let the words sink in. There was a silence broken only by distant echoes for a little while before Sarielle spoke again. "I'm coming with you."

"_What?_" her three friends chorused.

Sarielle smiled, and turned to them. "Would you do this for me?" she asked.

"What?" asked Sarol.

"Would you make the trip all the way to Kanto if there was a possibility, no matter how small, of saving my life?"

"Of course!" said Sarol instantly. Ritzo said the same thing a second later and, after a moment's consideration, Gabzy replied truthfully. "I think so."

"Well then," Sarielle said, "Freezachu is willing to do this for his friend, and I have to help him. You have to understand."

"I'm going with you too, then." Sarol said, scuttling over to the two Pokémon. Freezachu's face was brimming with tears, but they were not of sadness.

"And me." added Ritzo.

"_What_?" shouted Gabzy, outraged. "You're just going to leave me here? You're leaving me, your friend of five years, who fetches you food and water so you none of you get caught, for some kid you've known of all of five minutes?"

Sarielle and Sarol looked distinctively upset by the truth in Gabzy's comment, but Ritzo looked a little angry.

"Well," said the Delibird, "if you're about to sit here and watch his friend die, you deserve more than that!"

Ritzo's statement seemed to go through to Gabzy. After considering for a while, he finally said "Fine. I'll come. I can help you find the way. And keep off attackers."

"Are you sure you all want to?" said Sarielle, "I mean, it's not exactly going to be safe, is it? With all the humans we'll be with... and, let's face it, none of us have much experience outdoors."

Ritzo looked a tad nervous, but nodded his head nevertheless. Sarol gave her Glacéguin friend a look that plainly said 'you'd have to tie me up to stop me coming'.

"I have experience. And I'll use it, too." Gabzy sighed, rolling his eyes and walking over to the group. "But when you all end up as lab experiments after being caught by humans, be prepared to hear me say 'I told you so'.".

"T-thanks you guys!" Freezachu shouted, rushing over to Gabzy and hugging him tightly around the middle, tears streaming down his face.

"Yeah well…" Gabzy said, clearly embarrassed. "I'll… I'll go get a bottle."

"A bottle?" Sarol repeated.

"How else do you plan to carry Stalegeon?" Gabzy asked, walking out of the cavern. "Drink her?"

About five minutes later, Gabzy re-emerged, armed with a slightly crumpled bottle with a faded label reading "Soda Pop". Assuring Freezachu he had washed it out in the river, they proceeded to take all the water from the puddle and transfer it into the bottle, which was easier said than done, as it was vital not to miss a single drop. In the end, they left it all to Gabzy, who used his claws to scoop the water into the bottle.

"Why is it so important not to miss anything?" Sarol asked, watching Gabzy.

"I think it's because if we re-freeze her and there's some water missing, it's technically some of her missing, and she might be missing a leg or something drastic like that." Ritzo explained. "I'm just guessing, mind you."

"That's right." said Gabzy, not looking up, "That's why I have a plastic bottle. If I'd got a glass one, what would have happened if you'd slipped and it broke? Am I the only one who thinks of these things?"

"How do you know all of this?" Sarielle asked.

Gabzy made sure every drop was in the bottle before retracting his claws and screwing the lid on. "I know everything of importance." He said simply, giving an odd smile. "I have survived for years on this planet because of my own knowledge, my ability to use that knowledge and nothing else. And I am not dead yet. Therefore I know enough."

His friends were shocked. "That was… deep." Sarol commented, a bit taken aback at her friend's out-of-character-ness.

Gabzy laughed. "I didn't make it up. It's a Sneasel proverb. Means that if you can't rely on yourself, you can't rely on anybody."

"Okay," said Sarielle, changing the subject. "If everyone wants to get going soon, it would be for the best, since it's a long way and we have no time to waste. If anybody still wants to drop out, now's their chance."

Freezachu picked up the bottle and put it into the little plastic bag that Gabzy had given him, picked up from outside on one of his many journeys outside. "I'm ready." he confirmed.

"I don't need to bring anything." Sarol said, "and I doubt I could carry it if I did."

"I'm fine, too." Ritzo nodded.

"Everyone set?" Sarielle asked, as they began making their way out of the cavern. Everyone but Gabzy followed.

The Sneasel gave Sarielle a slightly sardonic look. "Have you ever actually _been_ outside?" he asked.

"Well… no."

"Have _any_ of you?"

The Pokémon exchanged glances. "I've seen it." Sarol said. "Once."

"I did, when I was little." said Ritzo. "With my father."

"I saw some of the sky through that hole in the ceiling once…" said Freezachu in a voice that was just above a whisper.

Gabzy rolled his eyes and sighed. Oh, it was going to be a _long_ way to Seafoam.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, they reached the entrance to the Path. The Pokémon, not used to the strong light, shielded their eyes from the sun's glare. Once their eyes had become accustomed to the light, they looked around in awe.

"Wow…" breathed Freezachu, gazing around, his mouth open.

"It's… beautiful…" Sarol whispered, as if not wanting to disturb the serenity.

Ritzo and Sarielle were both also looking around in awe. "It's more amazing than I ever remember…" said Ritzo in a hushed voice.

Gabzy, who was used to going outside, rolled his eyes. "Per-lease," he said, "this is one of the ugliest places I've ever seen. Look at all that human trash." He said, pointing to a pile of discarded food wrappers.

"But look," Sarielle said, awestruck, "look at those plants… they're so full of life."

Gabzy looked at his friends with something beyond his usual resentment towards everything, and saw how genuinely amazed they were. He pushed aside his sarcastic comments and let them revel in the world that they never knew existed, that had previously been nothing more than a different planet.

"Whee!" Sarol shouted, scuttling off on her little legs, dashing around in the sunlight, in crazy circles. Freezachu gave a genuine laugh and joined her. While deep down, Gabzy wanted to laugh at the scene, there was something more important to worry about. He ran over to them, grabbed the two small Pokémon and shook them.

"You idiots!" he hissed. "I know this is your first time outside, but if you don't want to get caught in your first ten minutes, you can't do anything that will draw attention to yourselves! Look at you! Sarol, you're a one-of-a-kind mutation-" Sarol flinched slightly at the word, "-and Freezachu, you're of an undiscovered species! Worth more than your weight in gold! We have to keep out of sight of humans at _all times_, clear?"

Sarol looked hurt, but seemed to understand what Gabzy meant. Freezachu was not used to being talked to like that, and his eyes grew watery and his bottom lip began to quiver.

"He has a point." Ritzo said, flying over, "we can't be seen by any humans. If we do, you three will be captured for sure."

"How are we going to get there then?" Sarol asked, "I thought there were humans everywhere."

"With difficulty." Gabzy answered simply, looking up at a dilapidated signpost. "Can any of you read human? This should tell us which way to go."

"I can't read… I can't even understand it." Sarielle admitted.

"We can't…" Ritzo sighed, "We've never been outside before now…"

Freezachu looked desperate. "How do we know which way to go?" he panicked.

"Easy." said Gabzy lazily. "Just watch and learn."

Gabzy hustled the other Pokémon behind a tree, out of sight, climbed onto one of its lower branches and lay crouched there, obviously waiting for something. After a few minutes had passed, a human man walked past, carrying a fishing rod and whistling. Gabzy didn't move, but the Pokémon hiding behind the tree suddenly went as still as stone. Then, another sound of movement was detected by Gabzy's keen ears. The feathers on his ear and tail stiffened, as he crouched lower, ready to pounce. A Likitung walked into the clearing, obviously not wanting to be seen by a human, and it walked quickly across the route and was about to make it into the thicket on the other side, but Gabzy pounced, quick as lightning. He darted down, landing in front of the Pokémon with the grace of a cat on all fours, his claws fully extended, feathers rigid and his deadly sharp teeth showing. The Likitung looked terrified.

"Look," Gabzy spat, "we need to get to Mahogany Town. What's the quickest way there that avoids humans?"

"Erm…" stuttered the poor Likitung, "if you carry on that way," she pointed westward "but keep behind the trees the whole time, you'll avoid humans. Please let me go! I have to feed my chil-"

"Go." said Gabzy, standing up on two legs and retracting his claws. The Likitung ran off into the thin forest, apparently terrified.

"You can come out now." he called to the Pokémon who were still behind the tree. They came out looking a tad shocked, "It's that way."

"We heard…" said Sarielle faintly, "but did you really have to do the whole…" she mimed Gabzy in his 'threatening' pose "intimidating thing? Couldn't you have just asked?"

"I could have." Gabzy said simply, walking west, "but I've learned from experience you get answers faster that way."

I hope you liked, and (if you read the first one) agree it's better than the original. Now PLEASE don't beg me to frequently update this. It's very hard to write and I've got a lot going on at the moment. So please don't make your reveiws too harsh, either. Thanks.


	2. Help from Lanturn

Bleah… I know this sounds odd, but I hope some people read the last chapter and didn't review.. I spent hours and got two reviews. Seriously, if you don't like it, tell me and I'll work on it. Ri2 and Blizwolf both rock.

Anyway, in the second chapter, it becomes exceedingly clear that when I was little, I was nowhere near as good at Pokémon as I am now. Thus, some things in here are technically incorrect. I've tried to correct as many as possible, but there are some things that I have to keep in for plot reasons. So a quick notice: I know Lanturn do not abide in Mt. Mortar. I will eat the first person to point this out to me. Call it artistic license. Call it taking liberties. Call it Dannichu being a lazy blob. I just don't care anymore.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Help From Lanturn (light blue)**

Their journey toward Mahogany Town passed without any further incidents. They needed to duck down on occasions, but were always given long warning due to Ritzo, flying above their heads and keeping lookout, and Gabzy with his excellent hearing. Mostly they talked, telling each other stories and so on, making the time pass quickly. They kept up as fast a pace as Sarol's small legs and Freezachu's low endurance would allow, as there was no time to waste. As they neared the small town, it grew dark, though not before turning the sky magnificent shades of pink, orange and red. The Pokémon stopped to watch the sunset for a few minutes, every one of them awestruck with is beauty. Though after the sun had finished its duty for the day and disappeared from all sight, there was only a cold sliver of the moon and a few faint pinpricks of stars to guide them to Mahogany.

While the cold and dark was nothing out of the ordinary, they had spent their lives in temperatures three times colder and the same amount of light, the darkness gave them an increasing sense of vulnerability. Eventually, over the tops of the coniferous trees under whose shelter they had spent the day traveling, they saw the silhouettes of old houses; smoke rising from their chimneys.

"So that's a human town?" Sarol asked.

"Yup." Gabzy said, "See those houses over there? That's what they live in."

"Why do they need so many?" asked Ritzo.

"Well..." said Gabzy, "I think they have only one or two people per house. And there are quite a few people living here."

"So why are there none out and about?"

"They're all sleeping."

"Oh."

"Erm…" wondered Sarielle, "Now we're here… where do we go? It's probably best to travel at night, since there won't be any humans around. But which way now?"

Gabzy considered. "If what I learned as a kid is right, then Mount Mortar is around here somewhere. That would probably be the best."

"Mortar?" Sarol echoed, scared. "But… we can't go up a mountain at night! What if a fog starts rolling in, or if predatory Pokémon come out?"

Gabzy rolled his eyes. "You dimwit. We're not going to go _over_ it. We're going _through_ it."

"Of course!" Ritzo said, "the Mount Mortar tunnels! I heard about those!"

Freezachu looked a bit scared. "Isn't it supposed to be a bit… dangerous, though?"

Of course, with its fast-flowing waters, pitch-black depths, twisting paths, unstable tunnels and wild Pokémon, Mount Mortar was rumored to be exceeding dangerous. But Gabzy wasn't about to tell Freezachu that.

"That would be the Dark Cave by Violet, leading to Blackthorn." He confirmed, "Totally different. Sure, Mortar is a bit dark, but not any moreso than the Path."

"Is that it?" Ritzo asked, pointing to a large mountain to the west of Mahogany.

"I don't know." Gabzy admitted, "I know it's around here somewhere."

"But so are lots of mountains." Sarielle murmured, looking around them, seeing huge hills covered in pine trees on every side.

"Mortar is the biggest. It's the second-biggest in all of Johto." Gabzy confirmed, looking around for it, moving away from Mahogany and towards a rather thin route with fir trees on either side.

Freezachu picked up a pine cone. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "What's this?"

Ritzo looked at it. "It's a seed from one of those trees."

"Cool! What does it do?"

"It'll grow into a tree one day." Sarielle exclaimed.

"So it's like an egg?"

"Yeah, that's about right." Ritzo explained, flying overhead to keep a lookout for late-night travelers who might spot them, "only it doesn't hatch."

"Yeah, I figured that." Freezachu said, staring at the cone in awe. "But even so, growing into something that big… it's like a Magikarp into a Gyrados."

"That's it! That one there!" Gabzy shouted, silencing the conversations that the other Pokémon were having. They all stopped and looked up. Gabzy was pointing to a gigantic mountain that stood out magnificently from the others. It was impossible to see the top, as it was above the faint nighttime clouds. The Pokémon stood in awe.

"Wow…" Sarol breathed. "We have to go in there?"

"Yeah." Gabzy said, "But it won't be too bad. We've just got to all stick together, since it's apparently very easy to get lost."

"Erm…" Sarol said, "How exactly do you get inside a mountain?"

All eyes were on Gabzy. "Sheesh, you lot are useless, aren't you?" he said, walking toward a small tunnel leading into the mountain, "Aren't you glad I came?"

After stumbling around for what seemed like days but was probably no more than a few hours, the group rested. They were all accustomed to the lack of light, but still knew that they were going around in circles. It was incredibly hard to navigate, as the unpredictable twists and turns, coupled with the high walls of rocks that were impossible for Freezachu, Sarol or even Gabzy to scale, made it nearly impossible to find a way that would lead them in the direction that they wanted.

"Where are we?" Sarol said, sounding scared.

"Somewhere in Mortar" Sarielle replied, perched on a slimy rock.

Gabzy decided to be honest. "I have no idea where we are and we've all forgotten how to get back to the entrance. We need to get out as quickly as we can, or else we can forget about Stalegeon altogether."

Freezachu nearly burst into tears and Sarol did her best to comfort him.

"What's that?" Ritzo asked, straining his eyes to see something in the distance.

"What's what?" Sarol asked.

"That yellow thing…"

"Let's go check." Gabzy suggested. He leaped off the rock he had been sitting on and dashed off to find the source of the yellow pinprick in the distance. Everyone followed. As they drew nearer, they began to hear the roar of water; they had come across to find one of Mortar's notorious rivers. Trying not to slip in, they drew nearer and nearer to what was now identifiable as a light. It seemed to be moving away from them, however, and they had to speed up in order to prevent it from vanishing from their sight completely. Freezachu raced ahead, intent on catching up with the elusive light. There was a squelching sound, then a yell, then a splash. Straining their eyes to see ahead, the group of Pokémon realized: Freezachu had fallen into the water.

"Freezachu!" Sarol and Sarielle screamed, but it was no good; the current had swept him away. Hurrying over to the bank of the underground river, Sarol found something; Freezachu's plastic bag, complete with a bottle of melted Stalegeon.

Gasping for air and trying desperately to keep his head above the water, Freezachu struggled frantically against the harsh current that was threatening to drag him under the cold and unforgiving waters. He was repeatedly smashed into rocks in the water, worn smooth by the fierce current, but painful nonetheless. After walking so far in one day; further than he would normally walk in a week, coupled with the bruises from the rocks, he felt fatigue overcome him. He couldn't continue make his little arms flail around, keeping his head above water. He couldn't yell for help. All he could do was to let the dark water claim him… let the current drag him down into a watery grave…

Freezachu woke up groggily. Twitching painfully, he felt his whole body ache. "Where am I?" he muttered incoherently. He felt the cold, sharp ground underneath him, so different to the Path's comforting smooth ice.

"Freezachu? He's awake!" he heard a distant voice call. He opened his eyes slowly but scrunched them shut as he was blinded by an intense yellow illumination.

"Are you okay?" he heard a voice ask. The voice mingled with the nearby rushing of water and made the Icicle Mouse's head spin.

"He's awake. That's something." he heard another voice say.

"I thought he wouldn't wake up!"

"Freezachu? If you hear me, blink."

Using a lot of strength, Freezachu struggled his eyes open. He had to blink quite a bit to allow his irises to focus against the bright light, but when he could see properly, he found himself lying on the ground of the interior of Mortar. Standing around him were his new friends; Sarol, Sarielle, Gabzy and Ritzo. He felt a wave of relief wash over him when he saw that Ritzo was clutching the bag with Stalegeon in. He also saw that he was lying by a river, presumably the river he fell in, and in the fast-flowing water as a large fishlike Pokémon. It was blue with a yellow facemask and a dorsal fin that was emitting a bright glow. He assumed in his semi-conscious state that the light from the Pokémon was what he had been following earlier.

"Are you all right?" Sarielle asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah." Freezachu breathed, trying to move his battered body. Ritzo saw that he was trying to get up and fluttered over to help him up.

"This guy saved you." Sarol said after Freezachu was standing unsteadily on his feet. Freezachu turned his head to look at the Lanturn.

"My friends call me Raisin". The Lanturn corrected.

"Thanks." Freezachu said, bowing his head slightly to show his appreciation.

"Pah." Daigree muttered. "He was the one that made him fall in in the first place."

"He's also offered to show us a way out." Ritzo interrupted, scared that the Lanturn would take offence and renounce his offer.

"Really?" Freezachu said, his eyes lighting up.

"Sure." Said Raisin, smiling. "Your friends told me that you're going to the Seafoam Islands. I'd be more than happy to help out. Heck, I'd probably come with you if I wasn't water-bound." He gave a loud laugh.

"You don't mind?" Freezachu said, unable to believe it.

"Not at all; we never have visitors here in Mortar. It's certainly more exciting than hunting for food. Come on; if you're okay to walk now, we can start now. Just follow me. You'll have to careful though; there are some waterfalls and whirlpools in this area that even I can't handle. And if you get tired," he looked over at Freezachu, "just say, and we can rest for a bit. Okay?"

Everyone nodded, and they set off. Mortar was much less intimidating when they had a guide who knew his way. The light coming from his dorsal fin was comforting too; they saw the shadows of wild Pokémon shy away from the light when they approached, so they were undisturbed. The fact they had to walk along paths right next to the water, and occasionally leap onto Raisin's back for a ride across the water to reach a new path, it felt like they were making much more progress than they had been doing so before.

They followed Raisin's light for miles, as he swam in the interconnected rivers that flowed underneath he mighty Mount Mortar. Over that time they stopped at irregular intervals, mostly to allow Freezachu to have a breather, but the others were getting exhausted too. After all, an average day for them in the Ice Path consisted of eating, sleeping and playing – they were not used to walking miles on the inside of a dark mountain.

They passed deep into the caverns of the mountain, some places where, if they didn't have Raisin's light to guide them, they would have been nearly unable to see though the pitch-black darkness. Finally, Raisin stopped, turned around and smiled at them. "We're here!"

"Where's 'here'?" Sarol asked, looking for an exit.

"Okay. You go over those rocks there and around a few stalactites. Keep going and you'll find the exit. I'd show you, but the rivers don't go that far."

"Really?" Freezachu said, hardly able to believe it.

"Yes – at least I think so. I've never seen it, but that's what I was told."

"Thank you." Sarielle said, "You've been such a great help."

"Yeah, thanks." Ritzo said, nodding.

Freezachu bowed his head. "Thank you so much!"

The Lanturn grinned. "You're welcome. Now you go and find Articuno. I'll try and keep an eye out for you on the way back – it would be great to hear how it went. Anyway, good luck."

"Thanks!" Sarol, Freezachu and Ritzo chorused, going towards the exit of the mountain. Ritzo waved one last time before disappearing behind a huge pile of boulders that obscured the group from view. Raisin dived deep underwater, smiling to himself.

* * *

It's much shorter than the first chapter, but I figured maybe the length put some people off reading... I dunno. I'm desperate here people; just let me know what you think, okay?


	3. Ekruteak City

Chapter three is nigh! Not too much happens in this one, but you have no idea how much fun it is translating 16-bit routes from the games into real places in a fanfic. Well, if you write fanfics, you probably do. I really love it though. I had to stop writing so many times because just writing this gave me an uncontrollable urge to go and play on Silver.

* * *

**Chapter 3 : Ecruteak City** (bluish-gray)

The Pokémon had to shield their eyes from the light upon exiting the mountain; the sun was only just rising, but compared to the darkness inside the mountain, it was painfully bright.

"What now?" Sarol said, feeling a little exposed out in the open once more.

"Erm... I guess we ask for directions. I have no idea where we are." Ritzo shrugged.

Gabzy sighed. "If we came out of there," he pointed to Mount Mortar, "then where we want to go must be over here." He pointed to the west. There was a gatehouse leading though to Ecruteak and it seemed the only way to access the town; thick trees blocked any other form of entrance from both sides.

"That's true," Sarielle said, "but look; there's a human building. "We'll have to pass that, and it looks difficult to get around all the trees."

"You could fly over." Freezachu said.

"Yes, but you couldn't, could you?" Gabzy pointed out. "Sarielle and Ritzo could fly over and I could climb those trees easily, but how would you two get over? We need as better plan. How about I clear a path for you? Those trees don't look too strong."

Before they could ask what he was doing, Gabzy had darted over to the trees and had begun hacking and slashing his way though using his razor-sharp claws.

"What are you doing?" Ritzo asked.

"What does it look like?" Gabzy snapped back, not looking at him but continuing to slash at the tree branches blocking his way.

"You can't do that! Those plants have feelings!"

Gabzy stopped, turned around, gave Ritzo a look that was a cross between "like I care" and "are you stupid?" and then turned back to cutting his way though. It only took about a minute for Gabzy's lethal blades to cut a small tunnel though the matrix of branches that blocked their way. Freezachu, Sarol and Gabzy entered the town via the gap while Ritzo and Sarielle flew over the top, not wanting to risk damaging their feathers on the clawing boughs.

Once they had met up in the town on the other side, they all immediately felt completely exposed. The streets had very few people on, it being so early in the morning, but there were so few things to hide behind that it felt very dangerous to the group.

Ekruteak was small town in comparison to some others in Johto, but was plenty big enough for the group of tiny Pokémon who were dwarfed by the wooden houses.

"Let's get out of here before we're seen." Sarielle said worriedly.

"Agreed. We'd better go down that way." Ritzo pointed down a long route to the south of the city. "Sound good?"

Everyone nodded, so Gabzy took a few steps into the town that was Ekruteak. He kept as close to the enclosing mass of trees as possible, and the Pokémon were, to their relief, were cast into shadow due to the newly-rising sun. They avoided the gaze of all the humans they passed and once had to dart behind a large building to avoid being seen by an elderly human. As they were hiding around the side of the building, Sarol noticed an odd noise coming from it.

"What's that?" she asked.

"What?"

"That music. It's so pretty…"

"I imagine that's a dance hall or something." Gabzy said, checking to see that the human had gone.

"Look!" Sarielle gasped, peeking into the hall through a gap in the wooden slats. The other Pokémon with the exception of Gabzy all peered into the building to watch the dancing.

"It's beautiful…" Freezachu whispered.

"Yeah… magical, almost." Sarielle agreed.

The building was split into two parts; in one was a large collection of people who were all staring down at the top end. There was a large stage at the top end of the hall, which was where the Pokémon were peeking in. On the stage were five young female trainers all dressed up beautifully in kimonos and traditional clothing. They were dancing with each other and five Pokémon who were equally graceful. The Pokémon were all quadrupeds and bore a resemblance to each other, one yellow, one blue, one red, one black and the other a kind of pinkish purple. Their elegant dancing styles were as beautiful as they were. They stood for a little while, almost hypnotized by the magnificence of the dancing.

"C'mon, we'd better go." Ritzo said, moving away from the Dance Hall. "We can't dawdle, it's not like we have forever."

"You're right." Sarol nodded, "Now let's hope we that Route's the one we want."

They sneaked along the outskirts of the town until they arrived at the Route they wanted. It was a relatively long one, and the grass was so long that Sarol and Freezachu were having a hard time seeing over the top of it.

"Can't I just cut it?" Gabzy sighed, greatly annoyed as Sarol's moaning. "I can hack you a path easily if you want."

"No you don't." Sarielle said warningly. "Plenty of Pokémon live in this grass and they need it as protection."

"So do we," Ritzo added, "it's giving us excellent cover from any humans that might wonder past."

"I haven't seen any Pokémon living here." said Sarol, right as she bumped nose-to-nose with a large Stantler.

The Big Horn Pokémon opened his eyes grumpily. He saw the smaller, scared Pokémon that had invaded his territory and attacked him, waking him up. The Stantler got angry and stood up on his four long, powerful legs and glowered menacingly at the group of Pokémon. Four of them looked absolutely terrified and were getting ready to run away as fast as they could, but Gabzy looked furious. He leaped forwards in front of Sarol, who looked petrified, and hissed warningly at the large stag, his claws extended, teeth showing and the fur on his back standing on end. Despite being much larger than the Sneasel, the Stantler was intimidated by the Sharp Claw Pokémon's ferocity. Natural herbivores, the only real fighting he had ever done was head butting other males that entered his territory. He was not at all used to fighting against Pokémon with the sharpest teeth and claws he had ever seen with the ferocity of a mothering Ursaring. Glancing around to check if there were not any other Pokémon, especially of his own kind around, he backed down, lowering his large antlers and standing less aggressively. Gabzy and his friends passed by the Stantler while the large Pokémon avoided eye contact.

Once they were a reasonable distance away from the Stantler, they all began talking excitedly.

"That thing was… three times as big as you!"

"It was amazing!"

"You're going to get eaten one day; you know that?"

Gabzy shrugged them all off. "It was no big deal. Stantler rarely have anything stand up to them, as most Pokémon will run off when they see one. I bet it was a bit of a shock for him for me to do the intimidating."

"Hey!" Freezachu shouted suddenly, "Apricorns!"

"Where?" Sarol said excitedly, looking around.

"You're right," Sarielle said, running over to the collection of small trees, each bearing different colored fruit, "I haven't had these in ages!"

The Pokémon ran over to the collection of trees and picked up some of the ripened fruits which had fallen off the trees.

"You used to bring these in for us all the time." Ritzo said to Gabzy while trying to break though the hard shell of a green apricorn.

"Yeah, there used to be a small plantation not far from the Ice Path. But when the humans realized I was nicking them, they used to patrol there sometimes, so it wasn't worth getting caught." Gabzy sliced though the shell of his red apricorn with ease and took a bite from the soft fruit inside.

They paused in their journey for a few minutes, breaking open and eating the apricorns. After the long trek through Mount Mortar they were all hungry, and the berries were exactly whet they needed to stop the hunger pangs.

Once they had eaten their fill they continued along the route, chatting quietly and hoping not to attract the attention of another Stantler, when they eventually came to another gatehouse that was near-impossible to get around. However, Gabzy's claws made short work of the foliage around the edges, and before long they found themselves in a huge grassy area known as the National Park. To their shock, there were a large number of human trainers in the park, some battling, some looking around for a new Pokémon to add to their collection, others just sunning themselves. In the center there was a large, beautiful fountain, modeled after a Lapras using Water Gun into the air.

"Crud." Gabzy said shortly, looking at all the humans.

"But… but couldn't was hide in the grass or something?" Sarol said somewhat desperately.

"No." said the Sneasel, indicating to the trainers searching in the grass, "We'd be caught before we reached the fountain."

"Is there another way around?" Sarielle asked, looking around desperately.

"Yes!" Ritzo said excitedly. "Look; see that fence around the edge? If we could get over that, nobody would find us. We just have to climb over, walk on the wrong side until we get to the other building at the other end, and then climb back over!"

Gabzy glared at the fence, trying to see if it would hide them all. It was tall enough and the slats were close together enough to avoid being seen by anyone who wasn't trying to look through the fence.

"Yes..." he said slowly. "Yes, that would work."

"But how are we supposed to get over?" Sarol said, indicating to herself and Freezachu. "You two can fly and Gabzy, you're expert at climbing, but we couldn't get over that!"

"Oh really?" Gabzy said, picking up Freezachu in his mouth by the scruff of his neck. Freezachu let out a startled yelp, but Gabzy wasn't using his teeth, so he didn't feel any pain. Freezachu was heavy, but Gabzy cleared the fence with him in his mouth in one giant leap.

"What about me?" Sarol asked, hoping that Gabzy wouldn't do the same thing to her.

"I'll fly you over." Sarielle said quickly, looking somewhat startled at Gabzy's rough treatment of Freezachu.

Sarielle held the Shiny Swinub using her webbed feet and flew over the fence as quickly as possible. It was difficult, as Sarol was rather heavy, but she managed it. Ritzo quickly joined them.

"Okay, just follow the fence." Gabzy told them.

The journey around was definitely the long way around the park, but they avoided all humans whilst doing it. They eventually got to the Gatehouse, where Gabzy carved a hole in the trees on one side large enough for Freezachu, Sarol and himself to squeeze through. Ritzo and Sarielle once again flew over the top and joined them on the other side.

"Oh no…" Ritzo said, gaping at the amount of trainers on the other side.

"We'll never get past all of them unseen!" Sarol gasped.

Sarielle tilted her head, gazing at all the humans along the long gravel road that was Route 35. "I think we can manage it, actually."

"How?"

"All the trainers on this route are doing something. Look."

She was right. Virtually all the humans were preoccupied; many of them were talking to one another or their Pokémon, some were simply rushing to the National Park and one boy was commanding his Growlithe to headbutt a tree repeatedly. "I think that if we go past as fast as we can, nobody will see us."

"I think she's right." Gabzy said, measuring the distance from where they were to the gatehouse at the end of the route, "Plus, there are some trees to hide us if necessary. Let's go, before more come along."

So the Pokémon took off, keeping as low to the ground as possible, but still moving as fast as they could all was going well, until they all froze at the loud yell of "Hey!"

They all looked, but the young human boy was not pointing at them. He was challenging an older girl to a battle. She nodded, and they sent out their Pokémon; he a Psyduck, she a Pikachu. This proved a very useful distraction to the Ice Pokémon; all the other trainers stopped what they were doing to watch the battle. They hurried on as inconspicuously as they could.

* * *

Beleive me, more interesting stuff begins happening next chapter. Whoo! Roll on Goldenrod!


	4. The Magnet Train

I've been pretty ill recently, so I figured I'd make the best of a a bad situation and write some more of this while I'm off school. And here we are; Goldenrod City, probably my favorite GSC town. Though Mahogany is cool and has nice music. Anyway, I'm glad people are enjoying this... it's really fun to write fics with no humans in. I guess it's the joy of writing a 'Pokémon' fic.

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Magnet Train (Murky-blue)**

A few quick flashes of Gabzy's claws and they wriggled through yet more trees on the side of the Goldenrod gatehouse. They stopped for a few seconds to catch their breath before realizing how huge Goldenrod City was. And how many people it housed.

"Oh hell." Gabzy sighed.

Everyone else was too scared to move. The sight of so many living things in one place was too scary for them. They were only used to one or two Pokémon sharing a cavern in the Ice Path and the sight of thousands of trainers and other humans bustling around in early morning Goldenrod was disturbing.

"Come on. We've got to find a way to blend." Gabzy said, snapping them back to reality. Freezachu hugged the bottle for comfort.

"Blend?" Ritzo echoed, still stunned.

"So we can get around without being captured. If we were Pidgey or Sentret it'd be all right, since they'd assume we belonged to someone, but even with something as rare as a Delibird, the greedy humans would try and catch you, let alone a Shiny or an undiscovered species."

"So what do you suggest?" Sarielle asked, hoping that nobody could see them as they were, standing a few feet along from the gatehouse.

Gabzy winced: he had an idea, but his pride really didn't want to let him do it. "Okay," he said, pointing to a garbage can not far from them. "I have a plan…"

"How're you doing?" a medium-sized box that used to contain popcorn asked a plastic bag with eyeholes.

"All right. This is so scary!"

"Guys! Where are you?" called a hamburger box in a low whisper.

"Over here, Sarol."

"Thanks."

"Hey Gabzy," began the popcorn box, which was housing Sarielle, "Where exactly is this train station?"

A large ripped guitar case came over to the other pieces of talking trash. "I have no idea. I suggest that we wander around the back roads without being seen until we find someone I can ask."

"Good idea."

"Okay…" Gabzy stuck his head out from under the case and peered around the side of a building. "Okay, we can go! Move!" Immediately, they all began shuffling towards Gabzy and around the side of the shop, when suddenly they heard a yelp. Whirling around, they saw Freezachu, who had had his tail trodden on by a passing human, fall flat on his face and was in danger of being crushed by a large group of humans who were approaching.

"Get up!" Ritzo hissed. Freezachu didn't hear him and stayed where he was, very scared. The humans, a group of teenage males, came closer and closer to Freezachu, who was half-covered by his plastic bag, but showing his crooked, icicle-tipped tail to everyone.

"Freezachu!" Sarol shouted, dashing out from under her burger box and over to the frightened mouse. "We have to go now!"

"I'm scared!" he whispered, hugging Stalegeon's bottle close.

"I know, but we have to-"

"Move!" hissed Ritzo, sounding incredibly worried, his little black eyes wide with fear as the humans approached.

Sarol grabbed Freezachu's paw with in her mouth and dragged him into a large shadow thrown onto them by a huge building. The humans passed by, oblivious.

"Phew…" sighed Sarielle, "that was way too close."

"I don't think we need these anymore." Ritzo said, shoving the plastic bag from over his body, grateful to be free of it. The other followed suit, shedding their camouflage.

"Where is it?" Freezachu suddenly shrieked, making them all jump.

"Where is what?" Ritzo asked, shocked by Freezachu's sudden outburst.

"The bottle! It's gone!"

"Oh, hell." Gabzy said blankly. While Freezachu had escaped unharmed, the bottle containing Stalegeon had been kicked across to where most of the people were walking. It would be impossible to get to it without being seen.

"I'll get it." Gabzy said, dashing off before his friends could tell him how dangerous it was.

Swerving expertly amid a sea of legs, Gabzy spied the bottle, the liquid it contained now a clouded blue, lying by the curb. He dashed over to grab it, but he was too slow. His tail feathers were trodden on by a passing human. He fell flat on his face, and slashed at the person's foot out of instinct. A Sneasel's feathers are a great source of pride, second only to their claws. The teenage human girl's sneaker was ripped open and blood spattered out from where Gabzy's claw cut the flesh, not deeply, but enough to hurt.

"Aarghh!" she screamed, dropping to her knees and grabbing her damaged foot. Gabzy used this as a distraction, grabbed the bottle and was dashing with it back to the others when one of the humans above him spotted the blood on his claws.

"It was that Sneasel!" he shouted, pointing.

Heads turned, and Gabzy realized that he was in deep trouble for attacking a human. He knew that if he ran back to the others now, they would be found, so he threw the bottle in the direction of the group of Ice Pokémon and ran as fast as he could away from the onslaught of grabbing hands.

Gabzy had never been into a human town before the adventure with Freezachu, let alone a city the size of Goldenrod. However, it was very similar to being back in the Ice Path, playing with Sarol and the others. Every bench became an icy rock that he would use to escape Sarielle catching him during a game of tag. Every human running towards him was a stalagmite protruding from the ground that had to be merely dodged. The Sneasel leapt off café tables, jumped over fences and dodged under the wheels of cars.

Sarol was craning her tiny neck to see what all the yelling was about before she was hit on the head by a flying bottle of water. Ritzo caught it, while Freezachu dashed over to check if the Swinub was all right.

"Guys…" Sarielle murmured, looking terrified, not even noticing that her best friend had nearly been concussed.

The Freezachu, Swinub and Delibird turned their heads in the direction that Sarielle was looking. Their expressions turned stony as they saw a larger group of people tending to a girl with a damaged foot, and even more people shouting "Grab it!", "Get that Sneasel!" and "Don't let it get away!".

"We should follow them." Ritzo said, looking around, "But from the backalleys. If we run fast enough, we shouldn't lose them."

"You're right." Sarol agreed, as Freezachu and Sarielle nodded. The four Pokémon took off, following the huge group of people chasing after their friend, but keeping to the shadows cast by the towering buildings overhead.

Gabzy's body was packing in on itself. His muscles ached, his mouth was dry, his claws were digging into his paws from being run on while withdrawn and his feet were screaming at him to stop. He had lost a large number of the people who were following him, but some of the more persistent ones were doggedly perusing him, although they looked as tired and exhausted as he felt.

"Gabzy!" came a hiss from behind a large building. He turned his head and saw his friends there, looking completely fatigued, but glad to see him. He dodged around a sandwich board and joined them, the humans suddenly wondering where the offending Sneasel had gone.

"We found it!" Sarol said excitedly.

"What?" Gabzy asked, his brain tired from running so far so fast. He extended his claws and licked at his bleeding paws, tending the wounds that his claws had caused. He suppressed a hiss of pain.

"The Magnet Train." Sarielle said proudly, not noticing. "All we have to do is sneak on without being seen and then get off at Saffron, in Kanto."

Gabzy sat, panting for a few seconds before reacting. "That's great. How far is it? Will we be seen?"

Sarielle solemnly pointed to the station, which seemed to be exploding with humans.

"I don't think that hiding under trash is going to work this time." Ritzo said worriedly. "There are too many people in one place. We'd get trodden on just too quickly."

"He's right." Sarielle nodded. "I think the only thing we can do is make a run for it."

"And if anyone tries to catch us, we've just got to attack them." Sarol said sadly, "There's no other way."

"We've got to try and hide Sarielle and Freezachu as much as possible though," Ritzo said, seeing the looks of apprehension on their faces, "We don't want the Ice Path getting raided again."

Ten years previously, when Sarol had not yet been born, and the others were only a few years old, the Ice Path had been raided by humans, and many Pokémon had been captured and taken away. These Pokémon included Gabzy's brother, who Gabzy hated on every level, and Ritzo's father, who the Delibird missed deeply. Mercifully, the people who conducted these raids did not see the back caves, where the undiscovered Pokémon were hiding.

"Okay then. There's no point waiting. When I say go, we dash to the station and try and get on a train. If not… just find something to hide under."

Gabzy tried to sound professional, but in truth, he was a worried as the others. There were so many things that could go wrong, the least of which was the fact that none of them had any idea what a train looked like.

"Go!" he shouted. The Pokémon broke into a run, and dashed across the street, trying to avoid being seen, stepped on and especially captured. They continued running, Gabzy being the fastest and Sarol the slowest, not even stopping as they entered the station. They dashed up the stairs, under the ticket barrier and found themselves at the platform, where a train was waiting, its door open.

"Okay guys!" Ritzo yelled to them, "this one!"

They all turned their heads and saw the Delibird indicating to the long train that stood in front of them. A loud voice was booming over the intercom, "The Goldenrod to Saffron Magnet Train will be departing in twenty seconds. Have a nice day!", but it made no sense to the little Pokémon who were struggling to board the train without anyone seeing them. Gabzy jumped and made it onto the train first, followed closely by Ritzo. Sarielle came next, looking absolutely terrified. Freezachu, with the bottle, jumped for the train and missed, but was grabbed by his friends, who hauled him up. Suddenly, a hissing noise sounded and the door began to close, while Sarol was desperately trying to run, but making little progress on her tiny legs.

"Come on, Sarol!" Sarielle shouted, panicking. Ritzo suddenly leapt off the train and landed next to Sarol. He seized her in his wings and threw her onto the train, where she was nearly caught by the automatic doors. The metallic sound of the electromagnets heating up sounded, and the Pokémon gazed with horror as they saw the Delibird standing there on the platform just as the doors closed. About five seconds later, they were all jerked backwards as the train started moving at a speed of two hundred miles and hour. Deciding that right by the door was not the best idea, they solemnly crawled under a seat and talked in near-silent whispers.

"It's all my fault... why do I have to be so slow…"

"Poor, poor Ritzo."

"What do you reckon he's going to do now?"

They spent the rest of the journey trying to cheer up the inconsolable shiny Swinub as they zoomed along, crossing the border between Johto and Kanto; a journey of twenty minutes that the Pokémon would be unable to travel in five days. The train halted suddenly, throwing them forward somewhat, and they waited for the humans to depart before getting off themselves, so as not to be seen. They somberly stepped onto the platform, hidden by a man pushing a large suitcase, pausing only to check that Freezachu still held onto the bottle, the contents of which were a kind of cloudy-blue.

"Hey guys."

They all whirled around at the familiar voice and saw Ritzo standing on the platform with them, his pure-white breast feathers smeared with a black oil, but otherwise fine.

"Ritzo? How on earth…?"

"I found a perch between the carriages." The Delibird said, indicating to the gap between the carriage the other Pokémon had been in and the one behind it. "Not the most comfortable half-hour of my life, but the front carriage shielded me from the wind, so I wasn't ripped off by the wind. Cool, eh?"

"Ritzo, you will never cease to-"

"Move!" Gabzy hissed, seeing a child spot them, as the human they had been using for cover had moved, and the little boy was tugging on his mother sleeve. The five Pokémon ran towards a group of humans, hoping that they were going outside, where cover was to be found.

* * *

...you didn't seriously think I'd leave Ritzo stranded in Johto, did you? 


	5. Getting Caught

A/N: Here we go, chapter 5 ahoy! I'm really sorry about the time it's taking me to update, but I've got exams and stuff going on, and revision has to come first, I'm afraid. Not too much happens in this chapter, but it's paving the way for more exciting stuff later. Enjoy!

* * *

"I can't believe we made that." Sarielle said, shaking her head while the others caught their breath. "I mean, there were hundreds of humans, and not one saw us…"

"Aside from the smaller one." Sarol pointed out, completely fatigued by the stress of the whole train incident.

"Wow…" Freezachu breathed, looking up around them. Saffron city was even bigger than Goldenrod, and its huge skyscrapers seemed to reach the very sky. The others looked and became dizzy at the whole scale of the giant city.

"Why do humans need such big buildings?" Sarielle wondered aloud.

"We'd better go." Gabzy said, looking around. "Even if we keep to the shadows, it's likely a human will bump into us sooner or later."

"Okay, let's go." agreed Ritzo.

The Pokémon wandered around the city for a while, doing their best to keep in the shadows of buildings, which was not difficult, as the sun was setting and making the shadows thrown by the buildings extremely long. However, there were seemingly no wild Pokémon in the city at all. It was very odd, as not a singly feral Pokémon was to be seen. However, much to their distaste, there were a large number of trained Pokémon, some of them walking with their trainers, but many just being carried. Teddiursa, Meowth, Eevee and Torchic seemed to be everywhere, decorated with ribbons of every color and their fur styled and brushed until it shone. Even Freezachu was angry when he saw the treatment of them. Sarielle and the others had to talk Gabzy out of attacking some of the trainers who were prissing over their darling Cleffa or Chikorita.

"Look at them!" Ritzo muttered, very angry. "They're being treated like dolls! They've never been in a battle in their lives!"

"And they look happy! It's all they've ever known!" Sarol said sadly.

"They've been bred for looks." Gabzy hissed furiously, "look at them! No Meowth naturally has eyes that big or whiskers that long!"

"This is just sick…" Ritzo said, disgusted, "imagine if this happened everywhere; Pokémon would just die out. These ones have no survival instincts at all!"

"And at least the trained ones get to fight sometimes…" Sarol sighed, "these guys just get entered into shows and stuff..."

"Oh my God!" came a yell from behind them, "A Swinub! Here of all places!"

All of the Pokémon's hearts stopped for a second, before realizing that they had been spotted. Or, to be precise, Sarol had. The rest of them had been around a corner and had avoided being seen by the trainer.

"Run!" hissed Sarol to her friends. The four Ice Pokémon took off in one direction, Sarielle somewhat reluctantly, while Sarol ran determinedly in another, a pair of humans of the age of about eleven chasing after her.

Still keeping in the long shadows thrown by the tall buildings, Sarol ran as fast has her small legs would allow. Her low ground clearance was a huge drawback, she had to use all the energy in her body to try and keep up a pace fast enough to outrun the two human children. But it was no use; they caught up with her and one of them threw a Great Ball, out of which materialized a Venomoth.

"I've never seen one of those before!" the boy exclaimed. His friend nodded, looking very jealous. While they recognized her as a Swinub, apparently neither noticed that she was a shiny; either because they were in the shadows of a building and it was too dark to tell, or because they had never seen a Swinub before and did not know what a shiny looked like. Either way, Sarol was truly terrified; the huge moth Pokémon was much larger than she was and if she was captured, she would never see her friends again.

"Confusion!" the boy shouted. The Venomoth's large compound eyes began glowing a bright purple and the small shiny Swinub was immersed in a bright purple glow. The Swinub screamed in agony as she felt her mind being almost compressed with pain. Using all of her strength the shook off the pain and retaliated by using a Power Snow attack. The Venomoth was taken by surprise and did not have time to dodge. The icy flurry hit the Venomoth's wings and large clumps of ice and snow formed on the underside, making it too heavy to fly properly. The moth did not drop completely to the floor, but it was obvious it was having a hard time staying up in the air. Its trainer decided that Sarol had been sufficiently weakened and threw a Pokéball at her. Sarol saw the boy reach for his belt and realized that he was either going to recall his Pokémon and send out another one or try to capture her. As neither option was favorable to her, she turned and tried to run, but the confusion attack had left her somewhat disorientated and she had an even harder time running than she had before. Still, he tried to move her short legs as fast as she could away from the two humans when she suddenly felt something hit her on the back. She turned around to see what it was, but all she saw was a bright light.

'Where am I?' came her first thought. 'Am I dead?' Sarol was extremely disturbed; she could no see herself. She couldn't see anything. All there seemed to be was endless white light and her own consciousness. Suddenly, her thoughts flicked back to the boy and his Venomoth. 'He must have caught me! Oh no… oh no…' panic suddenly gripped the small pig Pokémon's heart and she fought the space she was in with all her mind. 'I need to get out! This is a mistake! I have something I need to do! Let me out!'

As if someone had been listening to her thoughts, she was suddenly expelled from the light. Sarol found herself lying on her back on the cold gravel of a back street of Goldenrod, two human children and a Venomoth staring at her.

"Aw, no way!" the boy shouted, pouting. "That was my last one!"

"My turn!" said his friend happily. He advanced on Sarol, who had flipped over onto her feet. The second boy reached for a ball on his belt, but his hand was stopped by a beam of snowy ice shot form the Swinub's mouth.

Not even pausing to see what his reaction to this was, Sarol turned and ran as fast as she could, flat out sprinting, the escape from the Pokéball instead of draining her actually giving her new strength. She needed to find Ritzo and the others… if only to help Freezachu save Stalegeon. Her low ground clearance helped her change direction quickly and she dodged between buildings and did not stop running until she was sure she was free of the two pursuing trainers.

"Sarol! Sarol, where are you?" Sarielle called, her musical voice echoing off the graffittied walls of the surrounding buildings.

"Saro-l!" Freezachu, very upset. He was blaming himself for the Swinub's possible capture, as if it were not for him, she would still be with her friends in the Ice Path. His overwhelming sense of guilt was surpassed only with his grief for his melted friend.

Normally Gabzy would have told them to shut up, but it was nearly dark and there were few humans around, especially around the back lanes. Also, he was, deep down, worried about the shiny Swinub, especially after seeing the treatment of other captured Pokémon within the city. He dreaded to think what they would do to a specimen as rare as Sarol.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted as he was suddenly barreled into by a mass of silver.  
"What the-?" he began, before a delighted Glacéguin, Delibird and Freezachu dashed over, all shouting "Sarol!" happily. Deciding not to ruin this happy moment he stood and brushed himself off, smiling inwardly at the display of affection the four friends were showing.

"Do you have any idea how long it took to find you guys?" Sarol said, panting. "I swear, I must have searched half the city!"

Ritzo was about to respond when suddenly the back door of the building they were hiding behind burst open, scaring them half to death. They all froze, but the man that stumbled out of the door was so drunk they could have performed a musical number and he wouldn't have noticed. The door swung a few times, filling the air with the strong scent of fried food.

"This really isn't all that safe here, is it?" Sarielle said quietly once the human had vanished.

"I'll say." Sarol said dryly.

"We should probably keep on moving," Ritzo stated, "we should travel as much as we can in the dark; it's great cover and I for one do really not like cities during the day." The Pokémon murmured their agreement and they set off, traveling westward towards Celadon City.


End file.
